America’s Massive Hotel Strike Just Got Bigger

CNN
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Baltimore hotel workers are joining a nationwide strike against the three largest hotel chains ahead of one of the biggest travel holidays of the year.

Unite Here, a union representing hotel workers, said about 200 Baltimore hotel workers walked off the job at the Hilton Inner Harbor this morning.

Hotel union workers are now striking in 25 cities across the U.S. More than 10,200 hotel workers at dozens of hotels stretching from Boston to the West Coast to Hawaii began the strike early Sunday morning.

“I walked out today because we simply can’t keep working paycheck to paycheck, we can’t pay our bills,” Jerome Roberts, a dishwasher at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, said in a statement. “Striking is hard, but not as hard as trying to survive on what we’re paid. During negotiations, we told our bosses how hard we were, but they didn’t care. We’re striking to make them pay.”

Workers say they want higher pay, better conditions and more staff to help. The union is demanding the reinstatement of many of the budget cuts hotels made during the pandemic, including daily cleaning of rooms. The union says the tourism and hospitality industry has recovered from the pandemic, but workers’ wages have not reflected that recovery.

Hotels are reportedly still open, but guests are having to cope with a limited number of staff who are unable to provide them with the full range of services.

“We are on strike because the hospitality industry has been thrown off course,” Gwen Mills, international president of Unite Here, said in a statement Sunday morning. “Everyone suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now the hospitality industry is making record profits while workers and guests are left behind. Too many hotels still haven’t restored the standard of service guests deserve. Workers are not earning enough to support their families. Many can no longer afford to live in the cities they welcome guests to.”

The hotel chains facing the workers’ strike include Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott. The hotels have a combined 23,776 rooms in the cities of Baltimore, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, as well as Honolulu and Kauai in Hawaii and Greenwich, Connecticut, according to the union.

The union is threatening to expand the strike to 65 hotels in 12 different cities, possibly adding hotels in Oakland, California, as well as Providence, Rhode Island, and New Haven, Connecticut. Spokespeople for Hilton and Hyatt told CNN on Friday that they are committed to reaching agreements with the union but will also continue serving customers during any work stoppages.

Hyatt said in a statement that it was disappointed with the union’s decision to strike. “We are committed to continuing to negotiate fair contracts and recognizing the contributions of Hyatt employees,” said Michael D’Angelo, Hyatt’s head of labor relations.

Last year, 15,000 members of the same union went on strike over the July 4 holiday weekend at 65 hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties in Southern California. They returned to work a few days later but have staged a series of strikes in the months since, sometimes tied to busy tourist seasons, such as the weekend of Taylor Swift’s concerts in Los Angeles.

The strike is due to end after three days.